Charles Leclerc's British GP win could transform F1 title fight, says Juan Pablo Montoya

Juan Pablo Montoya believes the battle for the Formula 1 championship could become "really exciting" if Charles Leclerc can build on his British Grand Prix victory with the same consistency shown by his Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton. 

Leclerc took his first grand prix win of the season, and his first at Silverstone, on Sunday. The Monegasque driver took the lead at the start of the race and later capitalised on a safety car caused by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who spun into the gravel at Stowe corner. 

The 28-year-old crossed the line under safety car conditions ahead of Mercedes' George Russell in second and Hamilton in third. 

Prior to his British Grand Prix breakthrough, Leclerc had endured a difficult start to the season.

During the F1 TV post-race show, seven-time grand prix winner Montoya reflected on Leclerc's change in form. "I think what happens there is you always spend hours looking at the data, and you go, 'OK, this is where I have the issue. How can we stop it?'

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Manuel Eletto / Getty Images

"And if they finally go, 'Oh look, maybe it could be the diff is opening too much here, or the migration is too high here. How come?' And once you figure that out and you work around the problem, you try it and you go, 'Oh, that was it.' And the problem is now they need to translate that to every track and gain that confidence a little bit.

"We see Lewis is there now every week. And if we're going to see Charles there every week, this championship is going to get really exciting."

Leclerc's win at Silverstone means he now sits fourth in the drivers' standings with 108 points. Kimi Antonelli leads with 179 points, with George Russell second on 154 points and Hamilton third on 147 points.